PureCycle Technologies provides Q2 operational update – Waste Today Magazine
PureCycle says its flagship purification facility in Ironton remains on track with mechanical completion expected in the fourth quarter of 2022, followed by initial pellet production by year-end.
PureCycle Technologies Inc., Orlando, Florida, has released a corporate update on operations and company expansions for the second quarter ending June 30.
“PureCycle continued to build on its operational momentum during the second quarter of 2022 and execute against its strategic growth plan,” says Dustin Olson, PureCycle’s CEO. “PureCycle aims to mitigate its environmental footprint through proactive evaluation of operational impacts from preprocessing through pellet production. We look forward to updating the market with a more in-depth evaluation once our Ironton facility becomes fully operational.”
PureCycle says its flagship purification facility in Ironton, Ohio, remains on track with mechanical completion expected in the fourth quarter of 2022, followed by initial pellet production by year-end. The company is in the final phases of construction with 14 of the 26 modules delivered and lifted into place. Additionally, the company is nearing completion of its feed preprocessing build and full commissioning is underway. The Ironton purification facility will have an annual capacity of 107 million pounds annually of ultrapure recycled resin.
“The operational startup of our flagship facility in Ironton remains on track and marks a significant milestone in PureCycle’s commercial path to addressing the global plastic waste crisis.,” Olson says.
During the second quarter, the company’s engineering, procurement and construction activities at its first multiline purification facility in Augusta, Georgia, continued to progress. Due to the current economic climate, projections anticipate mechanical completion, startup and full commissioning in 2024. The PureCycle team is integrating lessons learned and improvements from the Ironton construction into the Augusta development, which is expected to improve installation efficiency.
PureCycle says it will receive an agency opinion letter for the use of food-grade postindustrial recycled materials for all food types under Conditions of Use A-H. It also received a letter of no objection (LNO) for all food types under Conditions of Use E-G for food-grade postconsumer recycled feedstock. The company says it plans for additional testing and intends to make further LNO submissions for additional postconsumer recycled sources and expanded conditions of use.
The company recently announced three leadership changes effective Aug. 5. Mike Otworth, chairperson of the board of directors and CEO of PureCycle, resigned. Dustin Olson, PureCycle’s chief officer and chief manufacturing officer, was promoted to the role of CEO and joined the company’s board of directors. Olson has been with PureCycle since 2021, leading technical, manufacturing and project operations. Dan Coombs, a current member of PureCycle’s board of directors, was appointed to the newly created position of executive chairperson of the board of directors.
PureCycle says it continues to advance its feedstock procurement pipeline, with about 329 million pounds of polypropylene under a letter of intent, to fully supply the first two lines of PureCycle’s Augusta purification facility. PureCycle says its current feedstock supply pipeline is made of three waste streams: postconsumer noncurbside, postconsumer curbside and postindustrial. During the second quarter, PureCycle’s PureZero program expanded its recycling partnerships to include the Jacksonville Jaguars. PureCycle is also continuing with an expanded list of targets outside of stadium venues to advance PureZero concepts.
Augusta’s purification lines one and two are currently at 70 percent, allocated through multiyear offtake contractual agreements and commitments, with volume from packaging converters. PureCycle says it continues to progress on negotiations for the remaining 30 percent of available offtake. The company says the market’s continuing interest in its UPR resin is demonstrated through the offtake allocation of the Ironton facility and the acceptance of its Feedstock+ pricing model being implemented at Augusta.
The company says it continues to develop three regional feedstock preprocessing facilities along the East Coast. The aim is to enhance feedstock supply for the Augusta multiline purification facility and maximize transportation efficiencies. PureCycle anticipates its first regional preprocessing facility in central Florida to be operational during the fourth quarter of 2022, with an annual sorting capacity of 115 million pounds of mixed plastic.
During the second quarter, PureCycle selected two new locations to supply the Augusta multiline purification facility: Denver, Pennsylvania. The facility will also be supplied on-site. Additionally, the company says it anticipates preprocessing facilities in Denver, Pennsylvania and Augusta to be operational in the second half of 2023. The Denver, Pennsylvania preprocessing facility is expected to have a sorting capacity of 175 million pounds annually. The Augusta preprocessing facility is expected to have a sorting capacity of 263 million pounds and a wash capacity of 331 million pounds annually.
As of June 30, the company is reporting total liquidity of $516.4 million, including $349.8 million of cash, cash equivalents and debt securities available for sale and $166.6 million in restricted cash. PureCycle had $249.6 million in debt and accrued interest, less than $16.6 million of discount and issuance costs. PureCycle’s Ironton flagship purification facility’s budget estimate is about $300 million, primarily funded through bond financing.
“We are pleased that project debt financing is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2022,” says Larry Somma, PureCycle’s chief financial officer. “Upon the anticipated closing of this transaction, we expect to have sufficient capital to fund Augusta’s first two purification lines and three East Coast preprocessing facilities.”
The association says the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 includes taxes that would discourage investment and undermine economic growth.
The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA), Arlington, Virginia, joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other associations in a letter to members of Congress urging them to oppose the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The bill passed the Senate on Aug. 7 and is awaiting approval by the House of Representatives.
“We recognize that various provisions of the legislation are being updated,” says NWRA President and CEO Darrell Smith. “NWRA calls upon members of Congress to reject the misguided corporate book minimum tax. Increasing taxes on American job creators during a time of economic uncertainty has historically proven to be a costly mistake for our nation.”
The legislation’s goal is to reduce the deficit and lower inflation while investing in domestic energy production and lowering health care drug costs. In a statement released earlier this week, President Joseph Biden said the bill would reduce the deficit by more than $300 billion. This includes near-term deficit reduction that would also reduce near-term inflation.
However, the association says the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 includes taxes that would discourage investment and undermine economic growth. Additionally, it would have little to no impact on inflation and may increase inflationary pressure in the near term.
The letter says enacting the proposed tax would be the antithesis of sound tax policy and administration. Its introduction would be neither simple nor administrable and would pose a competitive disadvantage to U.S.-headquartered businesses while increasing the incidence of unrelieved double taxation. It would also have a detrimental effect on the quality of financial reporting.
Book income reporting standards are set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), a nonprofit, private sector organization. The letter states conforming taxable income to the book income standards set by FASB would outsource standards for tax purposes that Congress should be setting. It would also contradict decades of practice in the accounting and auditing fields.
“This is the absolute wrong time to increase taxes on American job creators or implement price controls on American innovators,” the letter states. “We urge Congress to reject this misguided legislative package.”
Lobbying efforts included extended producer responsibility, the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act and the PFAS Action Act of 2021.
The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA), Arlington, Virginia, has released its 2022 second-quarter LD-2 lobbying disclosure report per the organization’s transparency initiative. The association also filed its contribution disclosure form and its report to the Federal Election Commission.
“It’s through our lobbying that we can be an effective advocate for the waste and recycling industry,” says NWRA President and CEO Darrell Smith. “It is important to us that we are transparent about our advocacy efforts. While we file our lobbying reports with the clerk of the House of Representatives and these are publicly available, NWRA goes a step further by posting these reports to our website.”
Lobbying items for this quarter included:
Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act of 2022 — improve domestic recycling collection in underserved and rural areas;
Recycling and Composting Accountability Act — improve recycling and composting data collection;
extended producer responsibility — focus on increasing demand for recyclable materials to allow market forces to incentivize recycling;
RECOVER Act — tax credits for increasing domestic recycling infrastructure;
Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act — national container deposit;
Cultivating Organic Matter through Promotion of Sustainable Techniques Act — creating new United States Department of Agriculture grant and loan programs as well as composting infrastructure projects; and,
PFAS Action Act of 2021 — offers a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) liability shield to airports that release per-and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances into their environment through their use of fire fighting foam. As receivers of PFAS, Congress should extend the same CERCLA liability protection to municipal solid waste landfills.
NWRA says it continues to engage Congress on issues important to the industry. Read the full expense report here.
Based in Hamm, Germany, Wendt Corp. GmbH will leverage the complementary resources of various European partners, including recycling solution providers MTB and Moros.
Wendt Corp., a shredding and separation recycling solutions company based in Buffalo, New York, has announced the formation of Wendt Corp. GmbH, which will be based in Hamm, Germany. The company says the formation represents a continued growth strategy to expand its international presence and better serve customers globally.
According to a news release from Wendt, the development of Wendt Corp. GmbH establishes an operational footprint and simpler customer access to Wendt’s products in the European market. The company says it has seen an influx in overseas market demand in the past few years, especially with its shredder technology. Wendt will leverage the complementary resources of various European partners. This includes long-standing partnerships with recycling solution providers like France-based MTB and Spain-based Moros to support manufacturing in central Europe.
The company says the exclusive partnerships will aid in accelerating the delivery of its scrap processing plants throughout Europe and Asia. It will also provide sales, service and support directly from Europe.
The announcement of the formation of Wendt Corp. GmbH comes after the company released international expansion plans. Ethan Willard was promoted to global director of business development. Willard will be leading a team of business development managers. He will provide strategic leadership and structure and oversee our entry into new markets.
The company also hired industry veteran Dennis Law in July. Based in Germany, Law’s efforts will focus on direct sales in the area, customer engagement and after sales, service and support. He will also be responsible for coordinating Wendt’s partners for projects and international sales and strategic agreements.
“As we can proudly call ourselves the market leader in North America, Wendt Corp. now shows our commitment to support global market demands for our shredder technology,” Law says. “Our in-house manufacturing capabilities and long-term partnerships position Wendt to offer our full portfolio of customized solutions, premium quality products, competitive pricing and 24/7 support to the European market.”
In 2019, Wendt outlined a strategic plan that more closely aligned with the company’s priorities for future growth. The company says these transformation initiatives have aided the company to enterprise growth and established a global framework to serve customers worldwide. During that time, Wendt restructured its sales organization by adding regional sales representatives while expanding its project management and engineering teams and doubling staff on the service team.
The company also invested in global supply chain capabilities to meet the customer’s needs. Wendt says it established partnerships with specialized companies, strengthening its ability to deliver more products on time and with better quality.
“We have taken a conservative approach to our growth strategy but have continued to position ourselves for future growth as a global enterprise,” says Tom Wendt, president of Wendt Corp. “The organic growth we have experienced over the last 10 years and the strategic initiatives we’ve established have paved the way to the formation of Wendt GmbH. Our streamlined processes, growing strategic partnerships, investments in best-in-class technology and our European manufacturing capabilities all contribute to the strong foundation that will make us successful as we enter new global markets.”
ZenRobotics will retain its name and become a Terex brand.
Terex Materials Processing (MP) has acquired the assets of ZenRobotics Ltd., a company based in Helsinki, Finland, that designs and creates robots that sort recyclables using proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) software.
ZenRobotics will retain its name and become a Terex brand, with the unit reporting to Tony Devlin, who leads the Terex MP environmental businesses, according to a news release issued by Terex Corp., headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.
ZenRobotics was started in 2007. With its technology, operators can upgrade their recycling infrastructure to meet modern requirements, Terex says.
In 2009, ZenRobotics began using AI-based robots to sort recyclables, which led to the introduction of the ZenRobotics Recycler in Helsinki. In 2015, ZenRobotics launched its Heavy Picker, which is designed to sort bulky construction and demolition (C&D) debris. The company expanded into China and the U.S. market in 2016.
ZenRobotics’ Heavy Picker is a multipurpose sorting robot for bulky material. Equipped with sturdy arms, various sensors and AI, Terex says it provides “a simple, unstaffed sorting process and makes waste sorting more accurate, safe, and profitable.” Its other offerings include the Fast Picker, a high-speed sorting robot designed for maximizing material recovery. It is compactly designed for easy integration into existing processes and conveyors in material recovery facilities, and it increases profits by enabling fully automated sorting and higher output purity, Terex says. ZenBrain is the company’s AI for sorting robots that has advanced recognition ability and autonomous decision-making.
Terex is active within global waste markets through Terex Ecotec, Terex CBI, Terex Fuchs and Terex Recycling. Zen Robotics will add to the Terex portfolio in global waste, where it will continue to be operated as a stand-alone business while also benefiting from MP’s broader market presence and from efficiencies enabled by MP’s global scale, Terex says. This acquisition of a highly “green-focused” company further supports MP’s commitment to its environmental business and environment, social and governance (ESG) goals.
“ZenRobotics is an exciting, modern company that lends itself perfectly to our pre-existing environmental expertise, and their ethos of making a circular economy more possible aligns perfectly with our goals and targets for the future of Terex MP,” Devlin says. “We’re excited to see the many ways that we can apply this technology and what potential this acquisition can bring Terex MP with the application of this technology. The journey that we’re about to begin with ZenRobotics and Terex MP is one that we look forward to starting, and we extend a warm welcome our new colleagues into the Terex MP team.”
Jarmo Ruohonen, CEO of ZenRobotics, adds, “We at ZenRobotics are delighted to be welcomed into the Terex MP team and we look forward to sharing our knowledge. As a company, we have worked hard for the past 15 years creating technology that helps companies efficiently deal with different types of waste materials, helping to chase down targets that propel us towards a more circular economy. Terex MP is the perfect partner to help us achieve that, and being part of the Terex MP team will give ZenRobotics more global opportunities to grow.”